Dell Banks On Indian Talent To Push Up Revenues

Dell is opening a new 1500 seat call center in Northern India with hopes of boosting revenue. "We are extremely pleased with the talented work force in India," said Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc. "I am impressed with the country's education system. We have gone for the best talent and not low costs in opening the call center here. Growth in India is an integral part of Dell's strategy." The company opened up its first call center in India in the southern technology hub of Bangalore in 2001 and launched a second one the neighboring city of Hyderabad in 2003.

According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies, India's five year-old outsourcing industry is set to grow by 40% and hit revenues of $5.1 billion by 2005. It predicts that the movement of jobs from western countries to India could touch 1.2 million by 2008 and bring in revenues between $21 billion to $24 billion.

"We looked at 19 cities but eventually decided to take a bet on Chandigarh as it has a large population of young, educated people who have good accents," said Romi Malhotra, managing director of Dell India.

India has been called the "backoffice" of the world, with some 2,000 foreign firms outsourcing their operations to the country to take advantage of its vast pool of educated and less expensive English-speaking workforce. About 800,000 graduates and professionals are employed in the outsourcing and technical support industries.